St. Lucia.
_Deaths from Fasting._--In the church of St. Mary, Bury St. Edmund's, is
a fine table-tomb, surmounted by a corpse in a winding-sheet, to the
memory of John Bant, whose very curious will has been printed by the
Camden Society. Tradition says that the death of this pious church
decorator arose from the vain attempt to imitate Our Lord in fasting
forty successive days and nights. This tradition has no foundation in
fact, but owes its origin to the figure on the tomb, which would appear
to have been made in the lifetime of the deceased. There are similar
traditions in other parts of the kingdom. Can any of your correspondents
state where, and whether accompanied by similar wasted figures?